Pursuit of perfection drives Kucherov's intense summer training

If you walk through the sliding glass doors and into the lobby of TGH Ice Plex on a weekday morning, it's quiet. You may find a staff member answering a call at the front desk or spot an employee from the pro shop carrying cardboard boxes filled with equipment. That's about it.

But if you walk to the right and peek out to the south rink, you'll probably find Nikita Kucherov.

The rink is virtually empty, but in just a few hours, the same spot will be filled with the commotion of locker room chatter, hockey sticks clashing, referee whistles blowing, and end of period buzzers.

For now, it's mostly silent. All you hear is the smooth sound of skate blades carving into the ice and pucks caroming along the boards. Look across the entirety of the 200-feet-by-85-feet ice surface and you'll see hundreds of pucks with plenty of carved up ice, but only two people - Kucherov, and Hockey Hall of Famer Adam Oates.

Together, the two are working on all the little things that helped Kucherov lead the Lightning with 113 points in 2022-23. And while Kucherov may look like he was simply born with his talent, that obviously is not the case. On the contrary, the magic he produces on the ice is a byproduct of his hard work, dedication, and an all-out love for the game of hockey.

"I think that's just a cop out for people when they say, 'Well, he's just gifted,'" said Oates. "Michael Jordan was not just gifted. Please don't minimize the effort, intelligence, and work ethic of Nikita Kucherov. Please. I think that's a cop out for people.

"I think that's what people tend to do. They watch and say, 'Well, that's just Kuch.'

"They're forgetting the hours he puts in. No one else is putting that work in."

During the offseason seven years ago, Kucherov was first introduced to Oates, whose Hall of Fame career spanned 1,337 games with 1,420 points along the way. He finished his 19-year career with 1,079 assists - the eighth-most in NHL history.

"One of those days during the offseason, Adam Oates came over and saw a bunch of us skating together and paying for the ice," Kucherov explained. "We were all on the ice together and he just said, 'Do you want to try skating together? Do you want to see what we do?'

"As soon as I saw the first couple drills, I was like, 'Oh, wow.' I kind of fell in love with what he does.

"Obviously, he's a Hall of Famer. Whatever he sees, it's probably the right way to see it. I've got a lot of respect for him. Since then, he's helped me a lot with growing my game and guiding me on how to play the game the right way at this level."

After Tampa Bay's 2022-23 season came to an end with a Game 6 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in April, Kucherov was back on the ice just one week later working on his game with Oates. The two skated together about three times before Kucherov took a couple weeks off and immediately returned to Tampa for more time on the ice.

Getting back on the ice that soon isn't the norm for most players around the NHL, let alone for one whose team made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in three of the previous four seasons.

But Kucherov is different. There's only one place he wants to be - on the ice.

"You have to be obsessed with the game," Kucherov explained. "You've got to love what you do. I know some guys around the league who come in, do their workout, go home, and don't get on the ice until late August.

"To me, that would be the same thing as LeBron James not touching a basketball for two months. It would be like Lionel Messi going months without touching a soccer ball.

"We play hockey. Why wouldn't we go on the ice?"

This summer, Kucherov has been skating five to six days a week, working on all the little things to continue improving a skillset that many players throughout the NHL wish they could have. In a survey presented to some of Kucherov's teammates this summer, a hypothetical question has been posed: If you could take one skill or attribute from any teammate, what would you take?

Thus far, every single skater on Tampa Bay's roster that completed the survey has given an answer that revolves around Kucherov. Answers have ranged from his hockey IQ to his hands to his backhand passing to his offensive instincts to just his creativity alone.

Over the years, we've watched Kucherov's "no-move" deke fool goaltenders on breakaways. We've enjoyed his no-look, backhand, saucer passes on the power play that look nearly effortless. But to have the ability to make those unpredictable, captivating plays happen, there's a process. And that process isn't for everyone.

A lot of Kucherov's summer training is built on consistent repetition. Some days, you can find him corralling hundreds of pucks off a rim along the boards, as he carefully studies the angles and bounces of the puck. Other days, he may be working on the same exact shot, from the same exact spot, for hours.

It's not glamorous. It's not always the prettiest. It's not always the most fun.

"If people were to watch us from the outside, I bet a lot of them would be sitting there going, 'What on Earth are they doing? Man, that looks boring,'" Oates explained. "And to be honest, sometimes it is a little boring."

But does Kucherov ever get tired of it?

"No, because I love it," he said. "I love being on the ice.

"There are some boring drills, but you have to understand that doing all of those drills will make your life easier during the game. It pays off during the season. I'm just trying to help the team win.

"Let's say you want to break the puck out off the boards. Your defenseman has the puck and he's under pressure. He rims it around the boards and their defenseman is right on you.

"How do you get it out? You don't want to be stuck there. You have to know the exits.

"So, you work on that. That's how you help your teammates' next play. Nobody wants to be stuck in the D-zone and I don't want to be the one to make you stop. If you're skating, and you want that puck and I'm stuck because I can't make that play, it's on me.

"It's not easy. It's hard. That's why you work at it.

"There are so many guys that are like, 'It's so hard,' or 'I can't do it.'

"I'm thinking, 'What do you mean you can't do it? You can't do it? Or you don't want to put in the work to do it?'"

Speaking with Kucherov, it's the dedication and commitment that stick out. The burning desire to be perfect is what elevates him to another level.

"That's the very first thing that I noticed about Kuch," Oates shared. "He wants to be perfect.

"He's a very, very dedicated man. He's obviously a fantastic athlete. He's a fantastic player, a very cerebral player. But he wants to be perfect.

"The best guys want more. They want more all the time.

"Kuch isn't happy when he makes a little, tiny mistake. If someone was open and he didn't see it, he's thinking, 'Oh my God, how did I not see him? I should have seen him. How did I bobble that? How did I miss that shot? How did I not break the puck out there?'

"It's just the little details of the game. That's really what we're talking about, is the details of the game. Who can master the details?

"Kuch wants to master all of them. That's all. Personally, I love that. I love it. It's fantastic."

In Kucherov's mind, understanding the details of the game is a prerequisite to success on the ice. Perfecting a small fragment of his game can provide even just one or two extra seconds to make a play.

And in a game that's moving faster than it ever has, those one or two seconds hold immense value.

"When training camp starts and the season starts, I want to be ready for everything," Kucherov explained. "All those little things that happen 25 to 35 times a game, I practice them. I want to be ready to pick any puck off the boards - backhand, forehand.

"I want to have my head up and be able to find open guys as fast as I can. I want to be in control. So, I work on that, and when the season starts with training camp, I don't struggle to make that play or get the puck off the wall so easily.

"Look back at the playoffs. Every team rims the puck. How many times during a game do you get the puck in the corner off a rim? On the power play, how many times do guys have to rim the puck because they want to release the pressure?

"What can I do to make sure I don't spend three seconds getting that puck? I want to get it quick and make the next play, so the other team can't react."

As an example, go back to last year's Thanksgiving Showdown between the Lightning and the St. Louis Blues.

After Jordan Kyrou scored in the second period to bring St. Louis within one goal of tying the game, Tampa Bay answered just 18 seconds later off the stick of Brandon Hagel. And while Kucherov didn't score the goal himself, he was a big part of why the play happened, and it very well may have been a result of all the extra work he's put in during the offseason.

After stealing the puck off the stick of 6-foot-4 defender Niko Mikkola, Brayden Point dashed into the Blues zone up the left side and wired a wrist shot towards the top right corner that just barely missed the net. With the puck zipping up the boards and bouncing rapidly, Kucherov calmly moved past Ryan O'Reilly, collected the puck on his backhand, avoided a hit from Mikkola, and fed a pass right onto the tape of Hagel, who turned and fired home his sixth goal of the season to restore the two-goal lead for the Bolts.

It was just another play that looked effortless for Kucherov, but most players around the league would be hard-pressed to replicate it.

"I want to work on it until it becomes second nature to me," Kucherov said. "It should just be quick. That extra work buys me a couple seconds to look around and make a play."

And when Kucherov isn't on the ice, he doesn't have to go far to find ways to continue improving his game. With synthetic ice installed in his garage, he finds small pockets throughout his day to work on his craft right at home.

"You get a little free time when the kids are taking a nap," said Kucherov. "Or when they wake up after their nap and go outside, I'll go in the garage. Even if it's just 10, 15, 20 minutes - it doesn't hurt.

"You can work on shooting - backhands, forehands. You move the net around so you're shooting from different angles.

"It's a garage, so you're facing the net straight on, but you can turn the net and it's kind of like you're off to the left side, or on the half wall, or off to the right side. I'll go through that."

Kucherov will also use time in the garage to work on pass reception, another important skill that can sometimes get overlooked on the ice.

"I'll play with a ball, hit it off a bouncer, and just work on receiving passes at different angles," said Kucherov. "On the ice, you have to be able to know how to receive the puck from all kinds of different angles."

The details. The angles. The laser focus on all the intricacies of the game have helped make Kucherov the player he is today.

"You've got to know it like this," said Kucherov with a pinch of his fingers, showcasing the miniscule margin for error. "You've got to know the angles. You can't come towards the puck with a bad angle. You've got to know how to get the right angle. You've got to be ahead of the play and see what's happening.

"When I get on the ice to train, I do that hundreds of times, because I know it's going to happen in the game. I want to make sure I'm ready to make the right play when it happens."

Kucherov said some of those on-ice sessions when he's working on angles with Oates can almost be more taxing from a mental standpoint than a physical one. Along with all the physical talent, the mental side of things must be just as sharp.

"It's the same as a chess match," said Oates. "It's always a chess match. Kuch is one of the guys that understands that the best. He understands that perfectly.

"He knows where the puck is going once it bounces off that spot, every single time.

"'Where's the defenseman coming from? Where are my teammates? Where do I have to take this puck?'

"He's just looking to be perfect. He's not looking to get accolades. He doesn't care about any of that. It's about helping the team win."

As Kucherov continues to consistently work on all the details of the game, it slows down for him. That's when the fun begins.

"I just remember when I actually started paying attention to those little things," Kucherov said. "Until I met Oatesy, nobody ever showed me those little magic tricks or how to do it. He was the guy that showed me all that. It's all from his drills.

"He's a Hall of Famer. He played against Wayne Gretzky. He learned off Gretzky, so of course I'm going to listen. I'm like a little kid when he's talking. I just stand there and listen because once I started doing this and once it started paying off in the games, I was like, 'Wow, the game can actually be slow.'"

Yes, Kucherov is having fun out there. How could he not with the numbers he's putting up? The 30-year-old already ranks fourth all-time for both goals and points in Lightning franchise history, while his 453 assists rank fifth. He's one of two players in the franchise to average over a point per game, along with Steven Stamkos.

And Kucherov's success goes well beyond just the regular season. He's shown up in the biggest moments, on the biggest stages. No player in Tampa Bay franchise history has recorded more playoff goals, assists, points, power-play goals, or power-play points than Kucherov.

"I would say that one of his true gifts is that, in the heat of the moment, he's produced," Oates said. "He's got a great coach. The team's really good. They play a certain style, and he fits into that style. He's in a good spot. All of that is true.

"But like I said, in the heat of the moment, he's there. He is always there. And that's fantastic."

That ability to show up in the big moments wasn't just handed to Kucherov. It's a result of the dedication and intensity he displays when he comes to the rink. It's the way he was raised. It's the way one of his closest friends on the team, Andrei Vasilevskiy, was raised too. Together, they form one of the hardest-working duos across the NHL. And, together, they make each other better.

"I'd say he's the hardest working guy I've ever met," Kucherov explained. "I'm even looking up to him. He's putting in so much extra work, so I've got to do it too. He kind of drives me, too.

"I think that just goes back to the way our parents raised us and the way our coaches coached us back home. It's all about the discipline. It's all about the consistency. It's another level. There's no messing around. Come in and do the work.

"You have to be serious. When you come in, be serious. You can't goof around. You have to have a strong work ethic. It's always 100 percent."

Always 100 percent, not sometimes. When the offseason began, Kucherov had endless possibilities for what he could do with his time off. He chose hockey. And it's not for the personal accolades. It's not for the Art Ross or the Hart. It's to win championships.

"I just want to win more," said Kucherov. "Winning the Cup - it's unreal. You just want to win. I think that's all there is.

"You want to be good as an individual, of course, but it's about the Cup. That's why I'm putting in all this work. I just want us to win more.

"We won two or three years ago. That's in the past. Who cares now? Nobody cares about the past. You've got to get back on the ice. You've got to put in the work.

"The past doesn't matter. Whatever happened, it happened in the past. Nobody talks about it. You want to make new history. That's how I treat it.

"You've got to get on the ice and put in the work, so we can win again."

Kucherov's work ethic hasn't gone unnoticed. This past season, he was named an alternate captain for the first time in his hockey career. The All-Star forward said he'd never had a letter on his jersey, not even in youth or junior hockey.

"It was cool," Kucherov shared. "It was something new, but my game didn't change. For me, it was an honor to have it.

"I just try to show an example of how to be a pro and lead by example," said Kucherov. "To be honest, if I'm a young guy who comes onto the team this year and I'm new, I'm going to look to Vasy. Even if he doesn't have a letter, I'm going to look up to him.

"The way he prepares, the way he trains, the way he comes to the rink and how disciplined he is and how consistent he is with his routines and training, he doesn't have to say a word. You just have to look and see how it's done. He's a pro."

Kucherov surely had plenty of players looking up to him at Tampa Bay's Development Camp a couple weeks ago. One of them was the Lightning's 2020 third-round draft pick, Maxim Groshev. The 21-year-old winger is a native of Agryz, Russia, and is still working on his English after playing in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg last season.

As someone who knows what it's like to go through the struggle of traveling to a new country and attending a Development Camp, Kucherov took Groshev in for a night and invited the Bolts prospect to come over for dinner and watch the UFC fights. There were also a couple more guests - Vasilevskiy and Brayden Point.

"It was a great night," Groshev said through a translator. "These are some of the most successful players in the league, so I thought it was really important for me to talk with them, ask them some questions, and find out some of the details and subtleties of the NHL, how everything works here.

"I can't thank those guys enough for that opportunity. I'm really happy to have been part of that."

"He's a good kid," said Kucherov. "I met him when he came in and we talked a little bit. It was a UFC night, so I had Vasy and Pointer over, and he came over for dinner. We ate some sushi, watched some UFC, and just talked.

"I think, for him, it's good to meet Pointer and listen to English a little bit, maybe talk to him a little bit. He talked to Vasy too. I just wanted to make him feel comfortable.

"Every time we get a Russian guy, you try to help. You just want to make them feel a little better. When you feel comfortable, you can play better. It's important.

"I know how hard it is to come over and have nobody and be on an island when you struggle with English. You don't really know who to ask something or where to go. It's hard."

As Lightning prospects shuffled through the rink during Development Camp in July, there was one constant every day. Kucherov was on the ice, working.

And through a culmination of work ethic, repetition, and a desire to continuously get better, Kucherov has as much skill as anyone in the world.

"I think this is a great way to describe Kuch's skill," Oates explained. "Everybody always asks me, 'Oatesy, how smooth is Kuch?'

"I mean, is there a better compliment? That's the first thing that you see, the smoothness. He's just so smooth."

On the ice, Kucherov's consistency speaks for itself. His career average of 1.13 points per game tops all second-round draft picks in NHL history.

After his 83-assist season in 2022-23, he joined Joe Thornton as the only two players to record multiple 80-assist seasons this century.

Only 10 players in NHL history have recorded a 30-goal, 80-assist season multiple times. Kucherov is one of them.

His success has been earned, not given. By the end of the summer, Kucherov may have spent more time on the ice than any player in the NHL. And with all the hockey the Lightning have played over the past few years, it'd be easy to think a longer break is necessary.

Not for him.

As for the upcoming season, Kucherov is ready to get going. In the world of the salary cap, valuable pieces departing Tampa has become a trend players and coaches have had to adapt to. This summer, there were more cap casualties, including Alex Killorn and Ross Colton.

But that's part of the business, and as far as Kucherov is concerned, the Bolts are still a top team in the league and ready to compete for another Stanley Cup.

"We're still a really good team," he said. "I think Julien and the management team have done a good job to add some new faces, bring in some new energy and new blood.

"It's hard. We know it's a business. It's hard to keep everybody. You just can't do it.

"But bringing in those new faces, they're going to challenge us, and we're going to challenge them. It's a good mix of the core group and the new faces where they're pushing us and we're pushing them. Through that, we grow as a team.

"I still consider us the best team. In my opinion, I think we still have a good chance. We'll see how it goes. But with the core we have and some new guys, some fast guys, the guys that have been here when we won the Cups, I'm excited. I can't wait for training camp and the season to start. I think it's going to be a good year for us."